Yes. my guilty pleasure is quilting

I’mmm back. I have been MIQ (missing in quilting) for mmmmm..I’d say about 5 weeks now. Well let me tell you what I have been doing. I decided it was time to start and finish my PB and her HP’s Double Wedding Ring quilt, so every spare minute that I had went in to making it. And ta da, it went to the quilter yesterday. I really meant to take more pictures of the process but guess I was just chugging along and I forgot.

The curved pieces sewn together

Half a football sewn together. That’s just what I called them cuz to me they look like footballs.

Sewing the other half of the football on.

Football complete

Awww…some picking out to do. There was a bit of that!!

Two….two footballs sewn together..Waahaahaahaa. Doesn’t that sound like the Count from Sesame Street. Well that’s what I heard in my head.

Lots of footballs!!!

Rows on the design wall.

That’s it for now. Will show you the quilt when I get it back from the quilter and I have the binding on it.

You know it’s amazing. I spent a lot of time on this quilt and enjoyed every single minute of it. I thought a lot about PB and I thought about her life with her HP. I find that some times when I am working on a quilt, I get tired of the same old, same old, but that didn’t happen with this one. It really was an amazing experience filled with many happy thoughts and memories. A quilt truly made with love.

We spent the day with our PB and her HP at Capilano Suspension Bridge and then on to Grouse Mountain. What a fun way to celebrate Canada’s birthday.

Gee, I guess other people thought it was a good idea too..

Aren’t our newlyweds so cute!!

They say it will hold a whole shwack of elephants, so I guess it’s okay!!

Yeh!!…Treetop adventures. I’ll be Jane..

Look up….waaaaaayy up

There must be a quilt in there. don’tcha think?

Next up, the lumberjack show at Grouse Mountain. Look up…waaaaay up!!

Lions and tiger and bears, oh my!!

These 2 bears were rescued as cubs when they lost there mothers and have been living up here on Grouse Mountain for about 10 years. I don’t think I have ever been this close to a grizzly bear….or any bear for that matter.

On to the raptor show. Isn’t this guy beautiful. He is the runt of the litter at 6 pounds, his sister weighed in at 12.

My HP at the Cleveland Dam on the Capilano River in North Vancouver. We hiked down to the fish hatchery which was great…not so great on the 1km hike back up. Oh well, guess it wore off my Treetop fudge from the suspension bridge gift shop.

I finished the Buggy Barn “Crazy Cats” quilt for my sisters birthday. A little late. But It is finished and mailed. Yeah!! I love making quilts but I get to a part in the process of doing something I have never done before or don’t do very often and I stop. This can be for anywhere from a day to a couple of weeks. Then I finally get my nerve up again and continue on. Well that happened with this quilt when I was quilting it. For some reason, I feel the need to do a pattern that is more complicated than is necessary and then I stop. Hopefully I learned this time.

My Doll Quilt Swap quilt is finished and will be off to it’s new home in Colorado on Monday. I hope that my partner enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it. I am rather proud of myself as I used some new techniques that I have not tried before-trapunto, machine quilting, accucutter. It is the second original quilt that I made.

This is my first one which I made 28 years ago, long before I ever knew that I would fall in love with quilting or even had any idea of what quilting really is. It was made for my PB before she was even born. Her room was decorated like a circus with the valance on the window being the top of the BIG TOP tent and the roman shades being the multicolored sides of the tent. She had balloons on her wall and as you can see balloons on her bed.

Now wasn’t that a little trip down memory lane. Of course you realize that I had her when I was 12 ……..right!!! Just kidding

Today was a very special day. It was the most beautiful, amazing, wonderful, loving,….did I say amazing?? little girls 6th birthday. Yes, our amazing (see I did it again) Grandbabies 6th birthday!! Oh my, wasn’t it just yesterday she was this teeny tiny bundle of angel fluff?? So….the day started at 7:oo. Had kind of a late night so that was a very early morning. I was given the honor of making Angel Fluff’s birthday cake. Now what does she want???well let me tell you. She would like a Ben Ten birthday cake. What’s that you say??? Mmmmhhh…that’s what I said. So off to the internet I go to see what I can find. Ta

Da!!! this is what I came up with.

Oh yeah…I forgot to tell you that there were 24 kids invited to the party. Yes…. 24 6 year olds. So I made 2

As we know all artistse’s are sometimes messy when they create. I must be some artiste cuz I made a doozy of a mess. Black icing was everywhere. Even on the milk jug.

Luckily my HP came to the rescue and helped ….well actually he did all the cleanup. That’s why he’s my HP.

This has been a very excititng holiday season for our family. We had a great family Christmas. We are so lucky to have our kids so close and to be able to spend a lot of time with them during the Christmas and New Year season. New Years saw us out for dinner with friends. And then the big huge awesome excitement on January 2, 2011. Our PB (princess bride ) married her HP. The wedding was absolutely beautiful….I have no pictures yet, but will have to post one or two just to show you how beautiful it was. What a great way to start the New Year.

On another note….I have been working on blocks for my “bees” and have just completed 2 with 2 more to go. One I forgot to take a picture of….silly goose…and this is the other one.

It is for Corley at PBee & J. We were asked to create a Wonky House Block. This square is great fun to make. I will definitely be adding it to my “To Make” list. You know the one that is on 81/2″x11″ paper and fills 10 sheets of paper single spaced. Oh my…..

What a great day.. We all got up nice and early and took a trip to Victoria on the ferry to see my DD’s grandparents and our grandbabie’s great grandparents. We haven’t been over since the spring so it was so nice for all of us to catch up….DD and our gorgeous grandbaby on the ferry.

DD and I ventured forth to pick up her beautiful, gorgeous, lovely, incredible, awesome wedding dress at Cascade Mall in ??? not sure what city it’s in. I just know how to get there. We also got the cutest little top for her top wear outside so she doesn’t freeze to death. And a necklace and earrings that are delicate and absolutely perfect. Drum rolllllll please. We also got opera gloves with the same lace as is on her dress on the edge!!!! She is going to look…..well there just isn’t a word to describe how beautiful she will be…maybe magical fits. Yup, magical works. Now for a peek!!!Silly you!!!! Her lovey might see……

10 years ago, I married my best friend. That’s sounds like such a cliche, which it is, but nonetheless very true.We have had a roller coaster ride for the last 10 years but I would marry my HP all over again. We have such fun together. What more could a girl ask for. We had a great day together. We went to a restaurant for lunch…well, actually it was a deli. We have passed this deli so many times and never tried it so in we went. Lunch was yummy. Then we took our “baby” , our Labradoodle, Darby up to Queen Elizabeth Park and had a nice long walk. It was a gorgeous sunny day. We hadn’t been in the Conservatory for quite a while, so took a look in there. Beautiful birds, lush tropical plants…. Another great anniversary.